Gabriel Pec: LA Galaxy's "Maradona"-like star enters MLS Cup spotlight

CARSON, Calif. – Gastón Brugman did not need much reminding when Gabriel Pec’s goal was brought up.

LA’s Brazilian winger scored plenty this year; 16 goals in the regular season and three more in the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs. But THE goal, the pick of the litter, was the jaw-dropping golazo he bagged in the Gs’ 6-2 thrashing of Minnesota United during the Western Conference Semifinals two weeks ago. A driving, slaloming, 70-yard dribble capped by a calm, low finish tucked inside the far post with his supposedly weaker right foot.

“Yeah, yeah – like Maradona, yeah?!” Brugman exclaimed to MLSsoccer.com after the Galaxy’s training session at Dignity Health Sports Park on Thursday.

"Killer mentality"

That’s how good Gabriel Pec has been for the Galaxy this season. It earned him the MLS Newcomer of the Year award, and Brugman is one of several teammates who marvels at the creativity and productivity they’ve seen from the 23-year-old, both at training and on gamedays.

Especially considering he’s also been adapting to a new league, country, city and language following a January move from Vasco da Gama for a transfer fee reportedly around $10 million, and also got married in the early stages of the regular season.

“He's good, man,” said goalkeeper John McCarthy. “He's smooth, he's crafty, he trains hard, he works hard – I'm happy he's on my side of the ball, you know? But when you train against him, he has a killer mentality. He plays to win and there's moments where he gets super pissed off, which is a good thing at a young age.”

Said Brugman: “He's amazing, because it's difficult to arrive in the league and it's the first year and he started – in the beginning, maybe he has a little bit of a problem because it’s normal. But in the end of the season was amazing, one of the best players in the league. He did amazing assists and goals; we are happy because he's with us.

“He's a young guy, he needs to grow up a little bit more, but he is one of the best in the league and this is important.”

A defender's nightmare

Homegrown center back Jalen Neal believes the task of defending Pec one-on-one at practice is ideal preparation for any other individual matchup he might encounter.

“Oh my god. Well, it definitely gets me ready for any other opponents I have to face in MLS,” Neal told MLSsoccer.com on Friday. “In my opinion, he's the trickiest winger in the league. And he has the – what’s the word I'm looking for – he has output, you know?

“He has the end product – outside of his trickiness, he can dice you up and then score. That's the scariest thing. It's something else that someone can dice you up and not score, if you know they're going to put in a bad pass. But he can do all those. Going up against him in training, it's been challenging, but it's also something that makes me a better defender.”

All this makes Pec perhaps the leading player to watch Saturday in MLS Cup 2024 presented by Audi vs. the New York Red Bulls at DHSP (4 pm ET | Apple TV - Free; FOX, FOX Deportes; TSN, RDS), especially with his teammate Riqui Puig sidelined by an ACL injury sustained in last week’s Western Conference Final win over Seattle.

With his quickness, outrageous skill on the ball and clinical finishing, Pec draws the viewer’s eye and will draw plenty of attention from Saturday’s opponents, too.

“He's a baller, to be honest. We know how dangerous he is. We've seen what he's done all year long,” RBNY left back John Tolkin told reporters on Thursday, grinning mischievously as he added, “so we respect him, but we also want to kick the s--t out of him!”

With New York having shifted to a 3-5-2 formation to spark their unexpected postseason run, Tolkin has worked mainly as a wingback, which would suggest he, and left center back Sean Nealis, will have the greatest responsibility for limiting Pec’s impact. Red Bulls head coach Sandro Schwarz, however, also alluded to more collective solutions for managing the Brazilian and his left-sided wing bookend, Joseph Paintsil.

“Pec, we have to defend against him in a lot of moments, and especially in transition moments,” Schwarz said in his matchday-1 press conference on Friday. “And we have to prepare this situation. And it's not only then to look, most of the time for JMi [Tolkin], for example, that he's able to defend against him. So we have also to solve the situations before, so I think that's an important topic for us in our defense behavior.

“You have to defend very aggressively some spaces, which is important to defend against Galaxy and especially when they find these moments on the side with these wingers, then we have to defend against the speed.”

Transfer rumors swirl

MLS Cup will play out amid a rising buzz of transfer rumors around Pec, with European giants like Arsenal and Liverpool recently said to have taken an interest in him. His durability can only pique their curiosity that much further; he appeared in all but one of LA’s ‘24 league games and Vanney told MLSoccer.com last month that it was a key attraction for the Galaxy, a priority he’s quickly vindicated.

“This league is physically demanding. It's tough. One of the things we wanted to make sure is that we felt like we had players who could play every game, or play game in and game out, and were going to be durable. The best ability is availability, in many ways, right?” said Vanney.

“Guys like Gabriel Pec, who has played 50 games each season for the last three seasons, he's just [always] available, he's fantastic. And we saw qualities that we could enhance.”

Teammates who’ve played in elite leagues of that caliber see all the necessary tools for him to someday thrive at that level, particularly with a bit more seasoning in MLS. And the capture of a league title on Saturday.

“He's improving a lot,” said Galaxy captain Maya Yoshida of Pec. “From the beginning, first season, it's really difficult to change to a club, to a country and adjust to the different play styles, lifestyles. His English is not really great yet, but he tries to study a lot and is improving a lot. He talks to me every away trip, we are eating at the same table and he tries to speak English.

“I can see he's ambitious on improvement, so he has the right mentality to improve,” added the center back, a three-time World Cup participant with Japan and a veteran of Italy’s Serie A, the German Bundesliga and the English Premier League. “I hope one day he goes to the bigger competition. But first, he has to come to produce for us on Saturday.”